Miami News Goes on the Block : Publication Will Cease Dec. 31 if No Buyer Is Found
The Miami News, an afternoon newspaper that has won five Pulitzer prizes, will be closed by the end of the year if no buyer can be found, parent company Cox Enterprises said Friday.
“The facts concerning the condition of the News are clear,” said Miami News Publisher David Kraslow. “We have given this community our best as professionals. The News is a good newspaper with a rich and proud tradition.
“It is damned painful to contemplate the likely demise of a newspaper that has given this community so much for so long.”
The staff of the News, which was founded in 1896, was informed of the decision Friday morning.
“Everyone’s in shock,” said City Editor Paul Kaplan. “We were offered what was called a generous severance plan. I’m not surprised this has happened. I guess when you look at it from the outside, we’re a dying newspaper.”
Cox officials said the News was losing too much money.
Agreement With Herald
“Quite simply, the Miami News, despite an outstanding editorial presentation, is not supported by advertisers or readers,” David Easterly, president of the Cox newspaper division, said in a statement released in Atlanta.
“Daily circulation has declined from 112,000 in 1966 to below 48,000 today, while Dade County households have grown by 80% during the same period. This means that the Miami News now serves fewer than 8% of Dade County households.”
The Miami News has operated since 1966 under a joint operating agreement with the Miami Herald, owned by Knight-Ridder Inc.
Under the 30-year JOA, the Herald, a morning newspaper, is responsible for providing advertising, circulation, production, and promotion services to the News. Atlanta-based Cox owns the News and manages only the editorial department.
Cox Enterprises will profit on a non-existent newspaper under the terms of an agreement negotiated more than a year ago with Knight-Ridder, Cox officials said.
Under the new agreement, Knight-Ridder will pay Cox Enterprises a percentage of the Herald’s profits, based on a sliding scale, through the year 2021, even if the News ceases publication.
Cox Could Earn Millions
The profit percentage, which was 15% under the old agreement, will decline to 10% over the next five years under the new deal, and will remain at that level until 2021, Easterly said.
That means Cox could earn $165 million from the Herald, by conservative estimates based on current figures, over the next 33 years, Easterly said.
One staff member of the News is editorial cartoonist Don Wright, two-time Pulitzer Prize winner, whose work is syndicated in newspapers across the country.
The News won three other Pulitzers: the first in 1939, for a series of stories about three Miami city commissioners promoting pet projects at City Hall; in 1959, for reporter Howard Van Smith’s series on the plight of South Florida’s migrant workers, and in 1962, for reporter Hal Hendrix’s coverage of the Cuban missile crisis.
Easterly said that since 1966, Knight-Ridder and Cox have lost more than $90 million in operating the News. He said the net cost of publishing the Miami News is running about $9 million a year and would be expected to increase.
The Miami Metropolis--the original name of the Miami News--was first printed May 15, 1896, just months before the pioneer development now known as Miami was incorporated.
On April 18, 1923, the paper was bought by publisher James M. Cox, the ex-governor of Ohio and an unsuccessful presidential candidate in 1920.
